13.13.030 Grant of authority.

1. A cable television system may not be operated in the City unless a franchise has first been obtained pursuant to the provisions of this ordinance and unless such franchise is in full force and effect. No provision of this ordinance shall be deemed or construed to require the City to grant additional franchises if, after considering any applicant for such additional franchise(s), it is determined by the City that it is in the public interest to restrict the number of Grantees.

2. A franchise, easement, license or other permit granted to anyone other than the Grantee to traverse any portion of the City in order to provide service outside the City shall not authorize nor permit said person to solicit, sell, distribute or make any charge to subscribers within the City, nor to render any service or connect any subscriber within the City to the cable television system of Grantee.

1. Any franchise granted by the City is non-exclusive in nature. However, since competing or overlapping franchises may have an adverse impact on the public rights-of-way and on the overall quality, cost and availability of communications services to the public, the City may issue additional competing or overlapping franchises only after a public hearing (s) at which the following factors are considered:

a. The ability of the applicant to provide service to the entire franchise area which is served by the existing cable operator.

b. The amount of time it will take the applicant to complete construction of the proposed system and activate service in the entire franchise area.

c. The financial capabilities of the applicant and its assured commitment to make the necessary investment to erect, maintain and operate the proposed CATV system for the duration of the franchise.

d. The quality and technical reliability of the proposed system, based upon the applicant’s plan of construction and method of distribution of signals, and the applicant’s technical qualifications to construct and operate such system.

e. The experience of the applicant in the erection, maintenance and operation of a cable television system.

f. The capacity of the public rights-of-way to accommodate one or more additional cable systems and the potential disruption of those public rights-of-way that may occur if one or more additional franchises is granted.

g. The potential disruption of existing cable television service and the potential for destructive competition which would adversely impact the residents of the City, based upon the number of potential subscribers in the proposed service area.

h. The likelihood and ability of an applicant to continue to provide competing cable television service to subscribers within the entire franchise area for the duration of the franchise.

i. Such other information that should be considered by the City prior to granting competing or overlapping franchises.